Tallinn, Estonia (AP) – Antanina Kanavalava for her four years Belarusian prison colony The political prisoners were still full of fear and anguish that was bothering her.
When she was first arrested, she almost lost her parental rights to her two young children. Her vision was exacerbated by sewing military uniforms in a dimly lit room. Denied access to basic needs like feminine hygiene products, she used what she could find in unsanitary conditions.
“Women in prison can go through hell and can’t even complain to anyone,” the 37-year-old Canabaraba told The Associated Press after being released in December. “The head of the prison said straight away that people like me should be hit by a wall and shot.”
Belarus has it Almost 1,200 political prisoners. It can withstand harsh conditions like unheated cells, isolation, malnutrition and health care, but human rights officials say the 178 women behind the bar are particularly vulnerable.
Pavel Sapelka, a lawyer at the Viasna Human Rights Center, says women are often chosen for abuse or humiliation, losing children and being threatened with ignoring medical issues.
Saperka cited the case of Hannah Kandratsenka, 30, who died of cervical cancer in February several months after gaining freedom. She was diagnosed in prison but refused early release for treatment, he said.
Independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council have described the “crissing” conditions of women in Belarus prisons and “the lack of abusive accountability.”
Authoritarian President Lukashenko ruled Belarus For over 30 years, in response to the nickname “European last dictator”, the West is neither free nor fair by opposing and expanding his control through elections. A severe crackdown followed the 2020 contest, when hundreds of thousands appeared on the streets. More than 65,000 people were arrested, thousands were beaten by police, hundreds of independent media outlets were shut down, non-governmental organizations were shut down and banned.
Opposition figures either got imprisoned or fled abroad. Among the people behind the bar are Nobel Peace Prize winners Yale Biariatskythe founder of Viasuna, and opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova. It’s Lukashenko Over 300 political prisoners have been released Others were arrested last year at a revolving door of oppression.
US President Donald Trump spoke to Lukashenko on social media last week and said he encouraged him to release him further. On Friday, Lukashenko replied: “Take them and bring them there.”
Of the harsh conditions, Lukashenko says Belarus treated prisoners “normal” and added that “the prison is not a resort.”
The government refused to allow prisons to have international monitors and independent observers.
Mother’s trauma
Kanavalava is a close friend of opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who challenged Lukashenko in the 2020 election, but later fled the country amid subsequent protests.
Her husband was also jailed, and Kanavalava was convicted of “participating in mass riots” and sentenced for five and a half years. Authorities threatened to send her six-year-old son, Ivan, and her four-year-old daughter, Nasta, to the orphanage at the start of her sentence.
“It’s real torture for a mother to not see her child for four years,” she told the Associated Press. “The authorities know this and rub salt on this motherly wound every day, demanding confession and cooperation.”
UN experts said female prisoners in Belarus are “subject to arbitrary punishment, including solitary confinement and immortal detention without contact with children.”
Kanavalava likened it to be a “hostage,” saying that he was forced to work with authorities because “I wanted to survive for my children.” Their grandmother eventually took them to Warsaw.
Wash with warm tea
Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, a 50-year-old former political prisoner, spent over four years behind bars in several detention centers and criminal colonies, serving in 270 days of solitary confinement.
Sharenda-Panasiuk said that she used warm tea to help wash herself, held at the hot water-free KGB detention center.
“The authorities intentionally humiliate and humiliate women’s vulnerability, creating situations that are unbearable,” she added.
Physical abuse and hunger
UN experts have expressed special concern for Viktoryia Kulsha, who was sentenced to two and a half years for moderated a telegram messaging channel that urged drivers to block the streets during the 2020 protest. Four more years were worked out as they were told not to follow prison staff.
Human rights groups say the 43-year-old has taken at least six starvation strikes protesting abuse at No. 24, Zarecha’s prison colony. United Nations experts said in May that her condition would “had a life-threatening for a while.”
Sharenda Panasiuk, who was in the same prison colony, said in 2023 that she saw the guards at Punch Krusha behind her and defeated her. The same guard later suffocated her by grabbing her from behind, she added.
“Victoria cut through her veins and felt hungry in protest of prison authorities and the tyranny of this slaughterhouse, but that continues to get worse and they are pushing her to the brink,” Shallenda Panasiuk said. “Her illness is getting worse… She has a thymus problem.”
She said the conditions for prison colonies are one of the strictest. Women often work 12-14 hours a day, including Sundays, to meet their quota. They are under 24 hours of supervision, are not permitted to walk outside, they have to constantly wear the same clothes, and in many cases they do not have the opportunity to bathe.
Sharenda-Panasiuk said the strip search was done by both male and female employees and “it was the man who searched me primarily during the location-to-place transfer.”
“Emotional Cage” Stint
Natalia Durina was arrested in 2022, convicted of extremism, a common opposition allegation among the opposition and sentenced for three and a half years. She was forgiven and released along with 13 other political prisoners in June, along with US special envoy Keith Kellogg, who was taken to nearby Lithuania after a visit to Minsk.
A 60-year-old Italian teacher at a language university in Minsk explained particularly rigorous treatment in Prison Colony No. 4, which includes the installation of “embarrassing cages” in the courtyard. The woman is forced to stand in cages for hours in all weather to punish her for disciplinary violations, she said.
There is no such cage in male criminal colonies, Saperca said, and “authors come up with new ways to abuse women in particular.”
UN experts called the punishment “inhuman and degraded.”
“I decided that if anyone wanted me to put me in this cage, I wouldn’t go there. I’ll go straight to a lonely confinement,” Durina said in an interview with Vilnius.
She explained the arbitrary practitioner, adding that once she lost the right to visit to feed the pigeons with bread. Despite the harsh circumstances, she said she had admitted her guilt or refused to demand pardon.
Permanent Effects for Freed Prisoners
Kanavalava, who lives in Warsaw with her family, admits that “the prison is not finished yet” as her husband is still around two years.
Neither of them are worried. She said, “The fear of losing my child is bothering me even in my dreams.”
“While it is impossible to get used to the tyranny of Belarusian authorities, it is even more difficult to explain to ourselves the high prices that Belarusians pay for their desire to be free,” Canabarabha said.
